Bridge Played Via Short Waves
CONDUCTING a bridge match in which the opponents were 6,000 miles away sounds incredible, but the Culbertsons engaged in just such a game. Using two official “dummies” who made the plays called for by the players located at Buenos Aires Mr. and Mrs. Culbertson engaged in the International Contract Bridge match although they were in New York.
At Buenos Aires an announcer named the plays made by the South American players. The “dummies” at New York followed these just as though they were opposing the Culbertsons, themselves. At the other end “dummies” representing the Culbertsons made the plays announced over the air.

Feminine “Ham” Heard ‘Round The World
RADIO amateurs of six continents were contacted within 6 hours and 20 minutes recently by Miss Nellie Corry, young British radio enthusiast. The feat, regarded as a record in amateur broadcasting circles, is all the more remarkable in that Miss Corry accomplished it on a home made set costing less than $20. Miss Corry built her transmitter in her home at Walton-On-The-Hill, Surrey, England, during her spare time. Working on a 10-meter wavelength on the occasion of her record breaking broadcast, she contacted amateur stations in Europe, Asia. Africa, Australia, and the two Americas.

In the IBM 608, tiny transistors are combined with the fantastic “memory” capacity of magnetic cores to give business a data processing machine with significant new advantages. Made without a single vacuum tube, the IBM 608 Transistor Calculator uses these new solid state electronic components to meet the needs of business for faster computing and greater storage capacity with traditional IBM reliability.

The new IBM 608 reduces power requirements by 90%, saves valuable floor space, requires no forced air cooling, and can be operated from a standard 110-volt A.C. outlet. Exciting developments like the IBM 608 Transistor Calculator open the way to electronic data processing for more businesses than ever. International Business Machines Corp., 590 Madison Ave., New York 22, N. Y.

ONE of the biggest obstacles to making long-distance telephone calls without speaking to an operator has been overcome: a machine has been built to see that you are properly charged for such calls. It’s a gigantic electrical contrivance that remembers what numbers you have called and how long you talked.

Your dial will operate it. The first such machine, called an AMA (for Automatic Message Accounting), is in use now at Philadelphia. Since it takes a long time to build and install such machines and the other equipment, it may be a long time before your phone is connected to such a device.

The AMA now at work can keep track of 100 calls at once, and even disregards local calls from phones with flat-rate service.

The system, developed at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York, actually consists of two machinesâ€”one in the Philadelphia suburb of Media, one downtown.

When somebody in Media dials a message-rate or toll call, AMA assigns that call a code number and then punches holes in a paper tape for the code, the calling number, and the number called. When the conversation starts and when it ends, AMA records the month, day, and exact time.

The second machine, pictured here and on the next page, later reads the tape, sorting out the record of each call from hundreds of others, and types out a report.

Talking Paper Presents the News
TALKING newspapers are here. No longer is it necessary to listen to the radio for verbal reports of the day’s news, following the invention of speaking paper by Fernando Crudo, of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Ordinary ink is used to print the talking paper, but instead of words, sound symbols are reproduced. When placed in a special machine, which is part of the invention, the sound symbols are reproduced with the clarity of a phonograph.

Telephone Holder Is Curved To Fit Contour of Shoulder
Leaving both hands free, a telephone holder designed to fit the contour of the shoulder balances the instrument perfectly in talking position. The three-point suspension holds the handset so securely that typing is possible during a conversation. The holder snaps on in five seconds and does not have to be removed to place the instrument in its cradle.

A NEW invention permits typewritten material to be lined up just as evenly on both sides as is the copy on this page. Typing is done on corrugated horizontal strips the width of a typewritten line, which in turn are cemented to a solid backing sheet. The copy is lined up after removal from the typewriter by lifting the right hand ends of each strip and stretching them to the required uniform width.

This reminds me of all those persistence of vision gadgets like clocks and hubcaps.

Autogiro Blades Form Screen for Floating Ads After Dark

DISPLAY advertising at night by means of a magic lantern suspended beneath an autogiro, with the rotating blades serving as a screen, is a German inventor’s latest medium for placing a product before the public eye.

The magic lantern assembly is placed in a torpedo shaped carriage equipped with vertical and horizontal rudders to keep it in perfect alignment with the autogiro flying above. It can be raised or lowered by means of a cable, for focusing the advertiser’s message on the blades. When landing, the projector is drawn up into the fuselage.

To insure perfect reproduction of the advertisement, the under sides of the rotor blades are specially treated. The autogiro has been found to be particularly adapted for this type of aerial advertising because of its ability to hover almost motionless in the air, while the blades revolve fast enough to form an uninterrupted screen.

Telephone Device Audibly Announces Exact Time
DESIGNED primarily to reply to thousands of daily requests received by telephone exchanges for the correct time, a machine invented by John W. Wells, of Stockton, Calif., audibly announces the exact time at three second intervals. The device uses less than 20 feet of movie film to record a 24-hour cycle of hours and minutes.
The sound waves are transformed from the film by a scanning optic and a photo-electric cell which travels the length of the film and returns every six seconds. The time is announced in hours and minutes at every trip of the scanning unit.